My Brother's New Year has already begun!

It's 2009 in Thailand!!

Picture of my Brother in Taiwan

This scroll translates: "I am a stupid American pig-dog. I went to Taiwan, and all I got was this d*mn scroll."

Letter from my Brother in Thailand

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm sorry to be missing you but I'm having a great time in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I have been lame with the updates, but please know that I am safe, sound, and doing well (even with protesters shutting down the Bangkok airport). I will work on a more proper letter, but here's an excerpt from one that I wrote to my students and their parents.

--

Tomorrow we will enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and celebrate the incredible opportunity to learn and grow as a community and as guests resting in the warm hospitality of strangers becoming friends. As I look back at our entry into this journey, that long flight over the Pacific Ocean in which there was no day, I am reminded of the Spanish mystic and poet, Juan Ramón Jiménez, who wrote

Through the dark night of the sea

We travel to the other cities of the earth

Where strangers, God, open their arms

And open ours, wanting our embraces.

We learn so much from the good will of those who love us before they know us, who sacrifice themselves for us before they even learn our names. It is a humbling experience, and it evokes a consciousness of all the love and sacrifice that makes our lives possible. For that life that we are living we thank you—I thank you, family, students, and staff for this tremendous opportunity to teach and learn.

--

And I thank you, my own friends and family, for making my life possible. Of course there's a special shout out for my parents who provided the physical possibility of my existence, as well as the years and years of sacrifice that gave my life its quality. But I also thank everyone else who contributed in big ways and small to the life I have been able to lead. My debts are too numerous to count. The call for gratitude is wonderfully overwhelming.

With thanks and love,

Kerry

Trimming my Lawn

Trimmed my lawn for THE FIRST TIME this season (talk about "going to seed"!). Some of the stuff was so thick it literally sprayed plant juice in my face (made me laugh). Reminds me of this picture (from today's story from CNN about Kudzu (which I read daily - trying to keep current, ya know)).



We drove down to South Carolina to vist my brother, Kerry a month or so ago and I saw a bunch of very wierd plant life that looked LIKE IT WAS TAKING OVER THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. I am convinced now that it was Kudzu.

Note: I had to link to a different kudzu pic, since apparently CNN deletes their pics periodically...